<p>@Cayton </p>
<p>You’re right. I don’t understand how Emory, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, and Rice all rank above Cal and UCLA. </p>
<p>@ocnative</p>
<p>I don’t either. Thankfully, pretty much every other ranking system I’ve seen that doesn’t have a private university bias places these schools far behind UCLA and Berkeley where they belong.</p>
<p>I can understand putting the Ivy Leagues, Stanford*, MIT, and Cal Tech ahead of UC Berkeley and UCLA, but these other schools that you mention shouldn’t be considered superior to the top UCs and in the same league as these top private schools.</p>
<p>*A quick note about Stanford that I find very interesting: it’s an excellent school and it keeps getting better. Academically, it’s superior to all of the Ivy League schools with the exception of Harvard and this is reflected in most rankings, even though Stanford is not itself an Ivy League school. Its academics are comparable to Harvard’s and for the first time in history, Stanford’s admission rate for freshman applicants has actually fallen below that of Harvard’s: 5.09% vs 5.49% if I recall correctly. I seriously believe that Stanford could challenge Harvard University for the title of “best school in the world” in the next 15~30 years. Just something I wanted to share. Interestingly, Stanford is ranked at #5 by USNWR. Personally, I think it should be #2, behind Harvard. Other ranking systems put Stanford in the top 3 or top 5, usually.</p>
<p>I’m curious… do any of you check your email like every hour with some sliver of hope that Berkeley would release their decision early? I’m becoming way to obsessive and it’s scaring me. I’ve never been so vulnerable and insecure in my life.</p>
<p>@Anxiety94 </p>
<p>Hmm…I’m not expecting an email. I’m just going to check myBerkeleyApplication when it’s 5pm on Friday. </p>
<p>I didn’t get an email from UCLA or UCI about decisions being up. I did get one from UCSD though. Perhaps Cal may send one…who knows? </p>
<p>@ocnative
Hm that’s odd… I got an email from UCD and UCLA… It wasn’t in my main inbox though.</p>
<p>@Anxiety94 </p>
<p>I don’t check my email, but I have checked myBerkeleyApplication everyday for the past month.</p>
<p>@music1990
Oh yeah I hear ya… I’ve been on top of it all. Man, time is definitely slowing down though. I’ve never been so sure and unsure just as equally, about a college decision… It’s driving me up the wall! Honestly, I can see myself being accepted just as likely as me being denied.</p>
<p>@Anxiety94 I don’t check my email as often as you, but I have been checking more regularly. I also check my spam filter at least once a day. </p>
<p>@Anxiety94 </p>
<p>I knowww, but we’re so close. It’s now Wednesday, so we really only have 2 and a half more days. This is my plan:</p>
<p>Stay up all night tonight watching tv. Sleep all day Wednesday. I will get up at midnight as it changes to Thursday. From there, there’s only one more day until Friday. When I wake up on Friday, I will sit by my computer all day until decisions come out. At this point I’m too much of a wreck to go out and do anything. How do you plan to pass the time?</p>
<p>At least we’re all in the same boat. @anxiety94 I got an email from UCLA right away, and an email from UCSD 2 weeks after my decision was posted. I wouldn’t rely on an email.</p>
<p>Yeah I suppose you’re right @smashley93… I plan on checking the myberkeley site on the 25th anyways hahahah! <em>Siggghh</em></p>
<p>If I may ask, what are you all here putting most of your weight on in your applications? GPA, ECs or Personal Statement?</p>
<p>GPA > PS > ECs? :-? </p>
<p>@music1990 Are u not gonna go to school? lol Thats good idea though</p>
<p>^Yeah same. But the way holistic reviews work is it depends on the student. If you have a great PS and average GPA, they will give more weight to your PS. They want to to look for reasons to admit you, not reasons to reject you.</p>
<p>@kio3063 </p>
<p>My classes are online. I can go to class if I want, but I don’t have to. And I live 4 hours away from my school, sooo yeah</p>
<p>@music1990 Interesting! U r right. I am wondering that does ucla also holistic review for the admission?</p>
<p>@kio3063 </p>
<p>I think UCLA is far less holistic, although they probably are to an extent. I really have no idea though. Did you apply to UCLA? is Cal your top choice?</p>
<p>As a business major who’s been to China and visited businesses there, Asia does take rankings pretty seriously. They give a lot of weight to the school “brand” you rep, like most people do nowadays. But UCLA and Berkeley are both really highly ranked schools, theres really no difference to employers. It’s more about the type of person you are - are you easy to work with, creative, a leader, those kind of things since the academics vary quite little from college to college - textbooks are the same. I know people that go to UCLA and wish they had chosen Cal, and vice versa. I also know people who go to Cal States and are making 100K+ a year and enjoyed thier college times. I think it depends more about your personality then the school really. Just because you go to Cal, doesn’t make you a better person than others applicants for a job. At the firm I work at, we have CC graduates that excel in their work. </p>
<p>@Anxiety94 I didn’t even know that UCLA decisions were out. They emailed me Sunday and I was checking my email for all the procrastination I did over spring break and then checked my app. But I highly doubt decisions will come out early. The admissions staff will probably review all of the decisions that day and then give the OK to the IT department who’ll post them later on in the day. Then there’s always server issues. Always the issues. Hah, it would suck if the servers crashed and decisions get held up all weekend. :))</p>
<p>@music1990 Uhhhh. I wish I could stay up all day, but with my amazing luck I have a bunch of important work related things scheduled that day. I’ll be at work refreshing the page every 15 minutes at my desk. Hah, maybe I’ll get busy and forget about it. Tbh, I’ll probably freak about it the entire day, and then forget about it right when they post, and then I’ll remember when I’m on the freeway driving home and have this insane urge to check my phone while going 80mph in the fast lane. </p>
<p>@music1990 Oh…! Do u think that GPA 3.8 is enough to admit as development studies? </p>
<p>@kio3063 </p>
<p>Oh yeah 3.8 is plenty high enough. I mean I have no idea whether you will be admitted or not, but 3.8 puts you in the running for sure. Developmental studies isn’t one of there more selective majors, which helps too.</p>